Tentacle-Free Anime: "Paprika" (2006) Review

It’s my birthday on Wednesday and I’m so not ready to turn 22. I already have a hard enough time being reminded everyday that I’m an adult, let alone celebrating an entire day around such an event. Sometimes I just want to curl up in my dreams and become someone else, freed from my ties to the real world of responsibilities and demands. Much like the protagonists of the next anime I’m about to review, one of my all time favorites.

Summary:In the near future, a revolutionary new psychotherapy treatment called PT has been invented. Through a device called the “DC Mini” it is able to act as a “dream detective” to enter into people’s dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. Before the government can pass a bill authorizing the use of such advanced psychiatric technology, one of the prototypes is stolen, sending the research facility into an uproar. In the wrong hands, the potential misuse of the device could be devastating, allowing the user to completely annihilate a dreamer’s personality while they are asleep. Renowned scientist, Dr. Atsuko Chiba, enters the dream world under her exotic alter ego, code named “PAPRIKA,” in an attempt to discover who is behind the plot to undermine the new invention.[AnimeNewsNetwork.com]

Satoshi Kon, who I could sit her and speak praises about all day, did something I see very few directors do in every attempt at making a film or a TV show s/he undertakes: he pushed the limits. And because of it we have several amazing movies (such as Perfect Blue, and Tokyo Godfathers) and a TV anime that survive him that we can always re-watch as pinnacles of a cutthroat medium where creativity is your only enemy.

PAPRIKA promo image

One of these movies is Paprika, again animated by Studio Madhouse that I consider to be my favorite movie, let alone anime movie, of all time. It’s my second favorite anime after Eureka Seven and there’s so much I could say about this movie that I feel just won’t do justice to this wonderful experience for the eyes and narrative standard. You see, while I know this movie isn’t for everyone, and I’ve met some people who just can’t enjoy the story of Paprika, one thing I don’t think anyone who has seen this movie can deny is its ballsy nature to show off what animation can really do and string together a series of unusual imagery to form a sort of euphoria for your brain.

“This is your brain on anime,” as some of the promotional images for this film say and it’s one of the truest statements I’ve ever heard. Kon decides to go pre-Inception and make this movie resemble as much of a dream as he possibly can. Everything is weird, wacky, but also straight up creepy and dangerous.

Bending the animation to his will and structuring a narrative that talks in riddles this is a movie that you can watch over and over again and still catch something new every single time. Trust me, I’ve seen this movie almost a dozen times and I still catch something new in the imagery and the story that I had never seen before.

Paprika is falling through the sky.

Speaking of Inception, because this movie is compared to Nolan’s masterpiece every time it’s brought up, Christopher Nolan has gone on record to say that Paprika is one of the movies that inspired him to make Inception, so while they’re the same basic concept they’re still two wholly separate beasts. The story balances 2 main narrative plots that coincide near the ending but in a way still remain wholly separate. There’s the A plot: Dr. Atsuko Chiba as Paprika tries to hunt down the person responsible for the perversion of the DC Mini, and the B plot: Detective Toshimi Konakawa searches for the reasoning behind a dream he’s been having where he can’t catch the murderer of a victim Konakawa’s been investigating. The two collide in an interesting way and by the end of the film the difference between what is the dreamscape and what is reality becomes hard to decipher.

Detective Toshimi Konakawa and the Dream Parade.

And as with the weird imagery, there’s all sort of stuff in this movie that ranges from almost every genre of fiction. Especially since Konakawa is a former college filmmaker and loves stories. As the movie progresses it becomes sort of a commentary on what a mass dream of thousands sleeping and combining their dreams (and even daydreams) would be like and how the world would be unable to handle it. Yeah, something like that is improbable to happen but with the right device invented and the wrong hands to use it, who’s to say?

A possible commentary?

I have a sense of wonder for this film; I also love its near-non-linear structure. I feel that this personally is the pinnacle of Kon’s achievement as a filmmaker though I know many would disagree. However, as much as I love it, and just like any story I have to give its trial of what the story could’ve done better that I may not disagree with or just isn’t good. And that’s really hard. As per this writing, I can’t think of really anything I personally dislike about it. Now I can see what other people may have problems with, and what I feel most do have problems with: the imagery may be a little too weird or mind bending for them, they may dislike a few characters, or they’ll hate the fact that to decipher a lot of this story you have to pay absolute attention to what is going on and try your best not look away. There is story within’ story and just enough hints are given for to figure out what is going on around you. I know a lot of viewers don’t like having to think about what is going in their movies, they want a straight forward explanation for nearly everything and lots of action. This movie certainly has enough action in it, but it’s not one for the popcorn flick crowd. Unless you want to turn your brain off and enjoy the beautiful animation and the amazing soundtrack, and then come back to it if you enjoyed it and try decipher a lot of what you saw.

Dr. Atsuko Chiba & Paprika are in trouble.

Finally I just want to discuss the soundtrack real quick by the highly talented Susumu Hirasawa. The soundtrack to Paprika is unique in that Kon has gone on record to say that he built the movie around what popped in his head from the dreamlike escape created by the songs for this film. Hirasawa specializes in electronica and so the music is meant to put you in a sort of euphoric trance so that you may get lost in a sea of dreams. Whether they are your own dreams, or what you’re watching when viewing Paprika. This is a movie I think every film fan should see at least once in their life. It’s beautiful, fun, sexually charged, and induces a sense of “WTF” at every corner and I love it. Just... don’t try watching it under the influence of drugs. Especially hallucinogens. Something tells me you’d end up having a bad time.Final Score: 5 Parades out of 5